Cecil Beaton

I visited the Imperial War Museum on Saturday to view the Cecil BeatonTheatre Of War exhibition. It’s a fantastic collection of photographs that let you into the lives of the troops during the Second World War.

I also attended a talk on Wartime Fashion by Josephine Ross; as a previous employee at Vogue Ross was able to offer a great deal of insight into how the publication and Beaton used photography to inspire women during the war.

Beaton’s photography and Vogue’s editorial encouraged women to put their faith in fashion – to work hard to support the nation and look good while doing so. Beaton’s position as Official War photographer cemented his relationship with Vogue. His photos of the bomb damaged London streets and wounded soldiers regularly appeared in both American and British Vogue.

Cecil Beaton had a fascinating life, and thankfully a lot of what he saw and did has been recorded through his photography. Here are a few of the images that I saw in his collection of Saturday…